Target did add what it hopes will sound like good news: It plans to offer shoppers a year of free credit monitoring. It says identity theft insurance will be part of the package “where available” -- without offering details on what that means. No details on how to sign up either -- yet. The company says that will come next week.

The good news here is that the additional information won’t be of much use to thieves, according to identity-theft expert Robert Siciliano. He says the contact information doesn’t unlock anything by itself.

All it does is make it easier for somebody who’s really clever -- and, let’s add, really bold -- to get in touch with victims personally and try to con them into giving up their social security numbers.

“Otherwise, it’s useless to the thief,” he says.

Without the social security number, thieves can’t open up new accounts in a victim’s name, which would be the big worry.